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The White House announced that the Trump Administration completed 11 consecutive months without releasing any migrant detained at the southern border of the United States.
In a message on X, the White House proclaimed that it has reached "the safest border in the history of America."
The announcement was published alongside an image of President Donald Trump at the presidential podium with the text "11 consecutive months with zero releases at the border."
Zero releases at the border. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, we are delivering the safest border in the history of America," stated Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The concept of "zero releases" refers to the fact that no migrants detained at the border were released under parole or community supervision programs, a common practice in previous administrations when detention centers were overcrowded.
In December 2024, the last full month of the Biden era, 7,041 migrants were released at the border; since May 2025 that figure has been zero continuously.
The data from the Customs and Border Protection Office supports the trend: fiscal year 2025 recorded 237,538 total encounters at the southwestern border, the lowest level since 1970, when 201,780 encounters were recorded.
In the early months of 2026, the figures continued to hit historic lows: January recorded approximately 6,100 encounters, a 79.1% decrease compared to January 2025; February closed with 6,600, and March showed a slight increase to 9,017, attributed to seasonal patterns, instability in Venezuela and Haiti, and misinformation spread by cartels.
The daily average of arrests in March 2026 was about 300 per day, a level not recorded since the 1970s.
The President's Economic Report, published last Monday, described the situation as having closed the border and reduced illegal crossings to effectively zero.
The administration attributes these results to a zero-tolerance strategy that included military and technological deployments, the suspension of the right to seek asylum at the border, and the end of the "catch and release" program.
It also reported the expulsion of more than 2.5 million undocumented immigrants: 2.2 million due to self-deportation and more than 675,000 through direct deportation.
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